Typically, if we’re speaking to Matt Fish it’s about a new location of his successful restaurant chain Melt Bar & Grilled. After all, he’s opened nine new stores (plus spin-off spots at Cedar Point, Progressive Field and the Case campus) since launching in Lakewood 14 years ago. But sadly, that’s not the case. Today, Fish announced that he is permanently shuttering the Cleveland Heights location, which has been closed since June.
Like other restaurant owners who are approaching the end of lease term, Fish said the decision to not renew just seemed like the most prudent thing to do.
“It’s nothing we didn’t know was coming,” Fish explains. “With our lease being up at the end of 2020, we’ve been talking about this for at least a year and a half. And then when the pandemic hit and hasn’t gone away we just kind decided that now was the time, unfortunately. Especially, with the uncertainty of the pandemic and the way the restaurant world is going right now.”
Opening in 2010, four years after Lakewood, the Cleveland Heights store was only the second Melt location. Since then, Melt has expanded across Northeast Ohio and throughout the state.
Fish says that take-out and delivery at the Cleveland Heights shop was going well from March through May, but when patio season commenced, business tanked. The Heights location is just one of two Melt stores without outdoor seating.
As for company-wide sales, Fish says, “We’re doing well at all of the other stores, knock on wood.”
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About The Author
Douglas Trattner
For 20 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work on Michael Symon's "Carnivore," "5 in 5" and “Fix it With Food” have earned him three New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor garnered the award of “Best...
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